Kemnal Park Cemetery, which is on the former Kemnal Manor site, is officially open for business after a ribbon-cutting ceremony earlier this month.

Its 30,000 potential plots make it London’s biggest cemetery development in a century.

But even so Kemnal Park will likely only have space for a few decades.

“London has a huge problem because graveyards are completely overpopulated and over time that problem doesn’t go away,” said operations director Michael Burke.

Director of operations Michael Burke with Mayor of Bromley Cllr Ernest Noad and Mayoress Diane Noad, who opened the cemetery earlier this month

“All our graves are dug to 6ft 6ins so we can put two burials in them – that’s a significant step forward in saving space.

“It would be two family members, and we would make sure the grave owner had given permission.”

Despite the somewhat desperate nature of the need for more burial plots, Kemnal Park attempts to offer a more relaxed atmosphere.

“It’s a park for the living,” said Michael, 47.

Michael Burke peers through the gates

“We space the service times out, so families can get the time slot they wish.

“In other places you might get a 35-minute slot in the diary and you’d have to hold the service in that short period – but here you get time slots of two hours, which allows the family to put together a service that suits them.”

Something else about the graveyard is unusual – it’s privately owned, acquired in 2009, meaning there’s no local authority involvement.

So if you live in Richmond, like Michael, but happen to fancy a burial in Bromley, you won’t have to pay the out-of-borough penalty you would at a council-owned site.

That fact will come as comfort to many – because grave prices are already expensive, often running over £1,000.

What’s more, in UK law, graves can’t be sold for more than 100 years at a time. That means if you want to keep a grave in your family you - or they - will have to keep paying.

Kemnal Manor has a rich history, with a string of grand houses dating back to 1250 having occupied its grounds – the last of which, already derelict, burnt down in the 1960s.

The site became neglected and overgrown – but beneath the wilderness lay gold.